With 14 riders grouped in less than a second, today’s Superpole at Imola was all about tire management and using Pirelli’s two qualifying tires at the right time, with the riders who had the slowest race pace using both tires in SP1 trying to get into SP2, but none could get close to Tom Sykes who literally stormed to the pole position with a record breaking lap of 1.
47.
748 in the last SP session and the only rider to only rider to break the 1′47 barrier.
Sykes was almost a half a second faster than Effenbert Liberty’s Sylvain Guintoli who has been having an excellent weekend so far, while reigning champion Carlos Checa, who is lamenting lack of top speed at the fast and technical Italian circuit took third (and the first to break the Imola lap record during SP2 on race tires), while BMW’s Leon Haslam – on race tires – grabbed fourth and the last place on the first row.
Max Biaggi wouldn’t be happy with his fifth place – his team is preparing for cooler temperatures expected during tomorrow’s double header, but the Roman Emperor’s position put all five manufacturers in the first five spots.
Marco Melandri was the sixth fastest rider trying to cope with chattering problems on his BMW, while Jonathan Rea who was trying to improve in the dying minutes of the session crashed out in a massive highside at the exit of Villeneuve and had to settle for seventh, and Joan Lascorz brough the second Kawasaki works machine into 8th to round out the second row.
WSBK rookie Lorenzo Zanetti put in an impressive performance to take his ninth position, while Jakub Smrz could only manage a 10th spot and he was followed by an angry Eugene Laverty who had some sort of technical issue and ended up in 11th and ended up kicking his ApriliaQP2.
Davide Giugliano’s two mistakes and a crash while trying to catch a tow from Max Biaggi in QP2 consigned him to twelfth and the third row.
Opening the fourth row will be Maxime Berger, Niccolò Canepa, Leon Camier and a disappointing Ayrton Badovini.
WSBK Imola Superpole results and starting grid.
1.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′46.
7482.
Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′47.
2213.
Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′47.
4234.
Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′47.
4585.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′47.
6116.
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′47.
6427.
Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′47.
6438.
Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′47.
7409.
Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1′48.
10810.
Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 1′48.
13711.
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′48.
29912.
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′47.
89313.
Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′48.
26714.
Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1′48.
38215.
Leon Camier (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′48.
41516.
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′48.
63117.
Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′48.
85718.
Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′48.
90419.
John Hopkins (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′49.
79020.
David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′49.
85421.
Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 1′50.
00922.
Brett McCormick (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 1′50.
26623.
Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′50.
67024.
Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′50.
99925.
Lorenzo Alfonsi (Team Pro Ride Real Game Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 1′52.
993